1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to vacuum tools, and more particularly to a clip placement tool used to reliably nest and fixture plastic clips for automatic or manual insertion as used in manufacturing.
2. Brief Description of Prior Art
Plastic clips, specifically plastic Christmas tree style clips or clips with ribbed shanks having a flat or round or binder style or crowned style head are commonly used in a wide range of materials, examples are but not limited to wood, particle board, cardboard, rigid foam panels, plastic panels and metal panels. Typically, the clips are manually pushed into cored or pre-drilled holes in a device to affix the device to an object or affix an object to the device. The ribs of the clips are larger than the diameter of the hole they are pushed in, but the shank diameter of the clip is smaller than the whole diameter. The interference and angle of the ribs hold the clips tight in the hole.
These clips are commonly used in manufacturing, specifically the manufacture of automobiles, boats and trucks but also in the occasional use but not limited to the appliance, toy, housing and commercial structures as well. The clips are manufactured in several body styles, head styles and shank styles including thickness and length. Thus the disclosed invention may be manufactured in a wide range of sizes, shapes and styles to accommodate the wide range of clips.
Manually placing the clips can be time consuming and physically tiring. The small clips can be difficult to hold properly and align and can require significant force to place in holes. Alternately, the clips are started in a hole by hand and then driven into installation with a crude driver such as a hammer. This two step operation can provide the operator some relief from pushing in the clips but the two steps are more time consuming and off center hits with the crude driving device can crush the clips sideways requiring the operator to get a device such as a claw hammer to extract the crushed, partially driven clip from the hole.
As will be seen from the subsequent description, the preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome the above problems and difficulties of the prior art.